Geoscience Australia and Toitū te Whenua Land Information New Zealand have awarded Inmarsat the contract for satellite based augmentation service (SBAS) broadcasts.
These are able to improve positioning accurace from several metres to as little as 10 centimetres.
With that level of positioning accuracy, increasingly automated systems used by aviation, maritime, agriculture, mining, emergency services and advanced collision avoidance for driverless vehicles become possible.
Known as the Southern Positioning Augmentation Network, the service has been live since 2022,
It is set to broadcast in 2027, and provide safety-of-life services the year after.
Three new Inmarsat I-8 satellites, to be launched in 2026, will providce the positioning signals broadcasts.
United States defence contractor Lockheed Martin won a $1.18 billion contract in 2022 to run SouthPAN, building the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) ground reference stations and uplink facilities.
The project has been in the works since 2017, when the government's Space Policy Unit identified the low accuracy of positioning in Australia as a concern and invested $12 million in a trial.
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